(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order to create the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention on Tuesday morning.
Evers said he will send $10 million in federal funding to start the office and then include the office in his 2025-27 budget proposal.
The office is intended to connect both state and local government efforts to prevent violence through things like safe storage, gun buybacks, expand mental health access and award grants to support violence and gun violence initiatives.
Evers said the proposal comes after a student at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School shot and killed a teacher and fellow student while sending six others to the hospital in mid-December.
“As a father, a grandfather, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a kid and an educator woke up and went to school that morning and never came home. That should never happen. Not to any kid, not to any educator, not to any person or family – not in this state or anywhere else in this country,” Evers said at a Madison press conference.
The office will do similar work to local offices of violence prevention in Racine and Green Bay.
It will coordinate efforts between law enforcement departments, create statewide public education campaigns, identify potential statewide law proposals and support local violence prevention efforts.
It will provide grants to school districts, firearm dealers, law enforcement agencies, non-profits, and government agencies for violence prevention.
Local agencies will be able to apply for the grants for eligible expenses and initiatives aimed at interrupting, reducing, and preventing violence and promoting community safety.